There were a couple of frustrated locker rooms at HarborCenter on Monday night.
On one side was the defending Catholic state champion St. Joe’s with expectations of another successful season; on the other was a vastly improved Lancaster team with high expectations of its own.
The two teams had just played to a 2-2 tie. The shots on goal were 27-19 in favor of the Marauders, but it was difficult to determine which team had played better. The final score was fitting. And a tone of mutual respect was tangible in each coach’s comments after the game.
“Definitely fun to watch, huh?” said Lancaster coach Kevin Miller. “They’ve been a good team every single year. They’re one of the powerhouses of the league, and for us to be able to contend with a team like that, I’m proud of the boys in terms of where they’re at this early in the season. You always want the win, but it’s a respectable tie.”
“Wow, they’re good, huh?” St. Joe’s coach Rich Crozier said. “They’re great. I felt like they outplayed us, definitely in the first, maybe a toss-up in the second, and finally we kinda got our minds back together in the third and did some things, but Lancaster is good.”
Shawn Kross gave his Legends the first lead of the game just 1:52 into the first period. Jeff Coons and Chris Blachowski, who spent last season with the Buffalo Regals organization, picked up the assists.
It was exactly a period and a second later when Alex Zuchlewski scored for St. Joe’s to tie the game at one. Nate Berke assisted the goal.
Again Lancaster took the lead, this time Blachowski from Coons and Kross, at the 5:41 mark of the second period. And again St. Joe’s came back; it took junior Jimmy Grable just 22 seconds to answer with his first Fed goal, assisted by his linemates David Matthew and Spencer Frome.
“That line, it’s our yellow line,” Crozier said. “They’re the bright spot right here. David Matthews, a junior, I really liked his hustle out there. Jimmy Grable, a junior, loved his hustle. Spencer Frome, a junior. That’s it. I got a team in there, a bunch of seniors, and I’m telling you my best line is some juniors, so we gotta find it there.”
“I was coming in from the blue line, we had Dave down low, Frome was working down low, I was just in the right place at the right time and I tapped it in,” said Grable. “It was thrilling. It was thrilling. It was really something.”
He hoped that his line’s quick answer was the spark the Marauders needed Monday night; it’s become the role of the “yellow line” early this season.
“I was just thinking, we gotta do something to get the team going,” Grable said. “We’re the line that they look to for energy, to boost us. We work hard down low, try to make the skilled players look good, we just bop in a rebound every once in a while.”
The Marauders had four shots in the first and eight in the second; the Legends had eight and six. St. Joe’s seemed to dominate the third, outshooting Lancaster 11-3, but none of those shots found the back of the net on either end.
And so the Marauders and Legends went to overtime. Both sides had chances, with St. Joe’s leading in shots, 4-2, but alas, it was another scoreless period for both sides.
It was Lancaster captain and defenseman Kevin Loftus with possibly the save of the game with less than two minutes to play in overtime. With the puck sitting next to goaltender Justin Stotz and an open net to shoot on, Loftus quickly cleared the puck away.
“I was thinking, do anything to get that puck not in our net, just like anyone would do out there,” Loftus said.
“It almost seemed like that was happening on both ends,” Miller said. “They had good chances that they created because they’re good players, and we had a couple nice chances as well, and that’s just the way the game goes. It’s like goals are going in off deflections and going in off of sticks, and all of a sudden you could pepper the other team with three, four shots for a minute shift and the puck is just sitting there, and sometimes it’s so difficult to get that last one for either team.”
“We knew they would be a tough team, so we had to fire on all cylinders,” Loftus said. “We were mentally prepared, but just that kind of game. Some bad bounces are gonna happen, and next game we’re gonna come back even harder.”
While Crozier was concerned with how his team could improve from Monday’s game, he was quick and consistent in giving credit where he felt it was due to Lancaster as well.
“Right now I think we’re still figuring out what we are,” Crozier said. “I think we got the potential. I think it’s there, but I don’t think that our performance tonight really deserved a win. We got lucky with a tie. But good for Lancaster. I’m not suggesting we’re better than them at all. They’re great. They’re gonna compete for a league title. I’m just suggesting that my team did not compete for 45 minutes tonight, or actually 50, and when you take a period off, like that first one, we got outshot eight to four. I told the boys between periods, I can’t remember the last time a St. Joe’s team had four shots on net in a period. That’s a little bit concerning.”
On the other side, Loftus saw little things that he and his teammates could improve on, but there was a sense of confidence as well.
“I feel very positive that we’re gonna have a good season, but it’s still tough taking the tie,” Loftus said. “I wish we had a win, so I guess we’ll go in, try things harder and get better … I think everyone came to play. A couple mental mistakes here and there, but we did good things as well, stuff to build off of.”
Lancaster and St. Joe’s are scheduled to meet again on Jan. 30. The date is undoubtedly circled on their calendars, and both teams expect to be more experienced and more prepared for the second meeting.
“Definitely a good team,” Grable said. “I feel we didn’t play up to our abilities though, and I feel that next time we should give them a better game. [This is] motivation. We need to come back harder, work harder. Nothing comes easy here.”
“I think we played very well,” said Loftus. “Again, there’s some little things we’re gonna have to do better, including myself, and we need to get better as a team, and next time we play them, we’re gonna come back much harder.”